A yellow suitcase attracts me in like a beacon. It’s stacked on a darkish shelf behind Greasby’s public sale home in Tooting, south London, and appears model new, with a tough exterior and wheels that Richard Stacey, a Greasby’s common who’s wearing shorts, a plaid shirt and a cream bucket hat, tells me to check. So I check them – they usually work. If I used to be simply shopping for a bag, that’s all I would want to know. However this isn’t only a bag: the zip is locked and once I raise it, it’s heavy. This yellow suitcase is crammed with a stranger’s misplaced belongings. And I gained’t discover out what’s inside except I submit a successful bid.
I write down the lot quantity, 281, and my bid of £70 on a type, together with 4 different bids – for a bigger black bag that’s stuffed to the brim; a wise blue suitcase with a compass within the deal with that I count on belongs to somebody older; a small wheelie in Louis Vuitton-like test; and a wise piece of hand baggage that I assume have to be a businessperson’s. In all, I bid £250 for 5 suitcases – manner an excessive amount of – however Stacey has been to the public sale home 10 occasions earlier than, and tells me I most likely gained’t win if I bid lower than £40 on every.
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